A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 41.2
That’s why I gave back just as much as he did, using a suitable excuse.
“I’m sorry about what happened back then, too.”
“……”
“I was on edge because of everyone’s eyes on me, and I even had trouble breathing, so I wasn’t in the right mind.”
“……”
“I didn’t mean it sincerely, so please just forget it.”
It wasn’t a lie. The trouble breathing had been real.
“……”
This time, it was his turn to look at me with a stunned expression.
“…What is it?”
“Truly… since you woke up from that coma, it’s like you’ve become a completely different person.”
He muttered as if he still couldn’t quite believe it.
I must’ve grown immune to that kind of comment, because it didn’t sting anymore.
“I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”
“You never used to say things like this… I mean, you didn’t even know how to apologize.”
“Well, I guess nearly dying helped me mature a bit.”
I shot back flatly, and Ethan closed his mouth with a dumbfounded look.
After a moment of silence, his voice dropped lower than before as he asked,
“…Your memories.”
“……”
“When did they come back?”
Of course he would ask. He seemed to be obsessed with my memories, after all. It’d be weirder if he didn’t bring it up.
I’d been expecting it, so I answered calmly.
“They’re not all back. Just bits and pieces, here and there.”
“What happened at the Tollen Gate… there’s a misunderstanding on your part.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“It really was a situation where things were out of our control.”
I’d heard that line before somewhere.
“I don’t know why you came to that conclusion, but I swear, I didn’t abandon you, or try to get you killed… or hurt you on purpose.”
“……”
“If you want, I’ll bring you the incident report and testimonies from the witnesses who were there.”
He was being surprisingly proactive, but that didn’t change anything.
‘They probably all coordinated their stories anyway. What’s the point of showing me that?’
A dry chuckle escaped me at the transparent attempt to ease his conscience with something so shallow.
“…Why are you laughing?”
“You sound just like Vincent.”
“Like… what?”
“Talking about misunderstandings, accidents, how the situation was unfortunate…”
As I repeated the same excuses Vincent had given me, Ethan’s face stiffened.
Unlike him, I tilted my head and smiled slightly.
“Isn’t it strange, Brother? We experienced the same event, but our memories of it are so completely different.”
Like a pebble dropped into a still lake, the blue in his eyes wavered.
‘It was nice, up until we exchanged apologies.’
My mood took a sudden dive.
Out of nowhere, I remembered the dream I had the first time I woke up in the duke’s estate.
― Take me with you too! Please? It was all my fault!
― Brother! Brother Ethan! Hiic, I’m scared. Please don’t leave me alone!
My voice, trembling in fear, had gradually turned desperate and furious.
― Yoo, Yoo Jihan! Wait! You crazy bas— No, oppa! Jihan-oppa―!
― Yoo Jihan! Yoo Jihan, you fucking bastard―!
The ones who leave never know the terror, fear, misery, and desperation left behind.
If I hadn’t transmigrated into this body.
If Edith had followed the novel’s script and really died.
Would any of you still be spouting those same indifferent lines?
“I still remember calling out to you until my throat gave out, that clearly.”
“……”
“Every night, I see it all over again in my nightmares… to the point I’m sick of it.”
“……”
“It’s that vivid.”
I looked Ethan straight in the eyes and articulated every word clearly.
Whether it was guilt belatedly kicking in or something else,
the ripple in his pale blue eyes grew even stronger.
That only twisted my insides further.
“It really is strange, isn’t it? Don’t you think?”
“…Edith.”
“Are you finished saying what you came to say? Because I am.”
Scrape—!
I pushed back my chair with a loud scrape and stood.
He hurriedly got up to follow me.
“Wait.”
“……”
“Calm down. Just wait a moment. I just want to give you something before I go.”
Calm down? He was the one who needed calming, not me.
What a joke.
As he reached out to stop me, Ethan hastily searched inside his coat.
And if, for just a split second, it looked like his hands were trembling.
Maybe I imagined it.
“Here. Take this.”
He pulled something out and thrust it toward me.
It was a small box wrapped in luxurious velvet.
It was clearly jewelry, and my expression soured a little.
“What is… this?”
“I noticed you were missing an earring that day.”
Earring?
I looked at him in confusion, and he opened the lid of the box and added,
“It can’t compare to the gift Father gave you, but I tried to find one as close as possible to the necklace.”
“If it’s the one Father gave me…”
There had only been one such gift from the Duke.
‘The Blue Diamond set?!’
I urgently asked Ethan,
“You’re saying I was missing one of the earrings that day?”
“…You didn’t know?”
Of course I didn’t.
I’d blacked out and didn’t open my eyes again until the next day!
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